Episode 1602: Signs and Truths

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 1,602 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

Jerry Dugan: I'm Jerry Dugan. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to get unstuck and stop living in a rut is key, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this.

The Inspired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

Scott Maderer: Those acts of love play out today, and that's when joy becomes present in the world. Not happiness, but joy, connection, community, faith, and hope. What do you see? When you look for the moments of Christ in today. [00:01:00] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, who will learn to invest in your.

Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk about Isaiah chapter 35 verses one through 10, and Matthew chapter 11 verses two through 11. Also talk about how it's hope and faith to wait. And also share how we see the message of love in the acts of today. Isaiah chapter 35, verses one through 10 says, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad.

The desert shall [00:02:00] rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and shouting. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weaken hands and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart, be strong. Do not fear. Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible. He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be opened. Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the speechless.

Sing for joy, for water shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The boring sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water. The haunt of jackal shall become a swamp. The grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the holy [00:03:00] way.

The unclean shall doubt travel on it, but it shall be for God's people. No traveler. Not even fools shall go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it. They shall not be found there, but the redeem shall walk there. And the ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.

They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow, and sighing shall flee away. And Matthew chapter 11 verses two through 11 says, when John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another? And Jesus answered them.

Go and tell John what you hear and see the blind receive their sight. The lame walk. Those with a skin disease are cleanse. The deaf here, the dead are raised and the poor have good news brought to them. And [00:04:00] blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me, and they went away and Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, what did you go out into the wilderness to look at?

A reed shaken by the wind. What then did you go out to see someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes or in royal palaces, what then did you go out to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet, this is the one about whom it is written. See, I am sitting by messenger ahead of you who will prepare the way before you.

Truly, I tell you, among those board of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. I don't know about you, but I don't have to work too hard to find things to get upset or frustrated. About it. It's pretty easy to look around and find evidence that the world is set against you, that things aren't coming out in my favor.

Sometimes [00:05:00] it's small, unimportant stuff, like not finding a parking place or being in the slow line at the bank. And when you think about it, you also kind of have to laugh a little bit because why are you so bothered by it after all? And at other times, there really is things that come up that are serious or life threatening or things that are big enough that anyone feeling them would definitely feel oppressed except maybe Jesus.

It. It's not that Jesus isn't sympathetic it, it's not that he isn't into comforting the inflicted after all that come to be. All who are suffering invitation is in there somewhere. But there's also times that he seems to have this attitude of get over it. Remember the storms at at sea? There was a storm and the disciples were scared and they were like, don't you care.

Look, we're all gonna die. And Jesus just rebukes the [00:06:00] storm, walks out of the waves and says, your faith, just get over it. And I dunno about you, but that kind of feels like a harsh message sometime. I like the message of comfort, but I don't always like the message of Get over it, move on. And yet, if I'm honest with myself, that's a message that I need to hear sometimes, way too often that I want to admit.

Coming now to the third Sunday of Advent, this is when the message changes a little bit. It's different. If you've seen most Advent Reese, where they're lighting the candles, there's blue or purple candles, and then there's the white Christ candle in the center, but there's usually also a pink candle in the circle.

And now in modern times, that pink sand has candle, has come to be lit on the third Sunday, and used to represent. Hope it. It's meant to represent [00:07:00] hope and joy. It's called Godette Sunday, and that's Latin for joy. I'm probably pronouncing that wrong. Here we are getting in this harried busy time when everything seems to be coming at us as once and we can easily be overwhelmed.

The prophets are telling us, watch out, pay attention, duck and cover. Things are coming. The other shoes about to drop. Then here's a reminder to find our joy. Even in the midst of all of the frenzied preparations, even in the midst of all of the crazy stuff, we need to find our joy. The third Sunday of Advent the pink candle, these promises of Jesus say, pay attention within all of theirs.

There's also messages of joy. Like here in Isaiah, it starts with the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall [00:08:00] rejoice and blossom. There's all of this glory that's given to God, and yet it also says, be strong. Don't fear. Here is your God. He's coming. This is the promise. That's where the hope is supposed to be coming from.

The hope is that moment of God is right there. It's coming. The things that are broken will be made whole. What? Scattered will be gathered up. We will live in abundance and forget what lack is, and the truth is right now, oftentimes we live in abundance and we forget that we have lack because we're surrounded by material goods, by pleasures.

And yet. The basic needs come and the real deep needs don't come. We forget that in a moment of living in the desert, it's easy to long for flowing water, but [00:09:00] when water comes right into your house, it's a little hard to sometimes recognize that you're spiritually dry as well. But our souls are often parched.

Oftentimes that feeling of being put upon isn't out of a real oppression, but it's out of that parched moment of the soul that longing for safety, that longing for security, that longing for hope.

Those are the places where our true peace should come. Isaiah is calling for us to sing out in joy and recognize that this promise is more than a dream. It's a moment that is inherent and coming, and right there on the horizon. It's not a someday. It's not just a promise, it's more because it's something that we're [00:10:00] all able to claim, not by shutting our eyes and ignoring by what, what's wrong in the world.

It's not by being Pollyanna or living in rose colored glasses. It's not trying to convince everyone that things are just better and everything's gonna be fine. No, Jesus looks at John's disciples when they show up and says, Hey. They said are, is this true? And he says, tell him what you see, John is in jail.

He's fallen on hard times. He's about to be beheaded. Is he maybe doubting or is he trying to show his followers that, Hey, the way is out there. I mean, I don't know about you, but if I was thrown in jail, my faith might waver a little bit. What was so certain there on the Jordan last week might feel a little bit more doubtful.

By the way, the passage never goes on and says [00:11:00] the disciples went back to John and gave him the response. I don't know how John responded or did he respond or did he even get the message that, Hey, yes, no, Jesus, is that thing that you've been prophesying about? Jesus didn't answer directly by the way.

He didn't say, yes, I'm him. Instead, he asked for input and connection and commitment. He said, what do you see? Open your eyes and see me see the truth. Yes, there's storms. Yes, there's winds. Yes, there's rain. Yes, there's damage. Yes, there's harm. Yes, there's bad. Yes, there's fear and anger. Yes. You can be alone, but if you look deeper, look further, look higher, you can find that the blind or receiving sight, the lame or walking the outcast is welcomed home.

The broken, whether it's broken hearts or broken promises or broken hopes [00:12:00] are healed. And that happens all the time. Even today. It happens for me, and it happens for you. Reconciliation comes it's real. Forgiveness comes it's real. And in those moments, healing comes. That's what Jesus means when he says get over it.

He doesn't mean ignore it. He means lift your perspective beyond that moment when it feels like everything's against you and see the bigger picture. Stand there in the storm. Stand strong, but recognize that the storm is not the end. It's in the journey, but it's not the journey. You can stand there. You can stand up for what is right.

You can speak truth to power. You can call for repentance. You can see things from a kingdom perspective where it's not about you, but it's about the kingdom of God. What do you see? [00:13:00] See the work of the Messiah, but see the work of the Messiah, not just in the past, but in the present, in the moment today when you, when I, when the church reaches out in love, when a parent gives that hug, when a teacher goes above and beyond when the church feeds the hungry or shelters the homeless.

When you see those moments of us being the hands and feet of Christ, that is when those acts of love play out today, and that's when joy becomes present in the world. Not happiness, but joy, connection, community, faith, and hope. What do you see when you look. For the moments of Christ in today.

Thanks for listening.